&& the Linux Writer Booklet
  ---------------------------:

  This booklet is about writing using the Linux operating system.
  The booklet focusses more on the process of writing and translating
  text. It may also include some information about publishing and 
  printing finished works.

  The booklet will focuss on tasks which a writer will frequently
  needs, such as version control, translation, looking up dictionaries,
  copying and pasting etc.

OTHER RELEVANT BOOKLETS

  @@ http://bumble.sf.net/books/vim/vim-book.txt
     A booklet about the 'vim' text editor, an annoying but
     powerful way to write documents

COMPARING DOCUMENTS
  
  @@ diff
     compare text files
  @@ vimdiff
     another way

  * use vim to get colorful diff output
  >> svn diff | view -
 
  * diff will usually only take one file from STDIN. This is a method
  >> diff <(cd /path-1; find . -type f -print | egrep -i '\.m4a$|\.mp3$') <(cd /path-2; find . f -print | egrep -i '\.m4a$|\.mp3$')
 
DICTIONARIES

  Linux can access web-based and local dictionaries easily

DICT ....

  Dict is both software and a protocol for simply accessing
  dictionaries in english and other languages.

  * look up the word 'tree' with the dict software
  >> dict tree

  * look up the word 'tree' and display verbose output 
  >> dict -v tree

RUNING A LOCAL DICTIONARY SERVER ....

   * dowload dictionaries data files
   >> wget ftp://ftp.dict.org/pub/dict/pre/

   * install the dictd server
   >> sudo apt-get install dictd

   * start the server with something like ??
   >> /sbin/service dictd start

   * put 'server localhost' in '/etc/dict.conf'
   * put something like
   --------------------
     database dbname1 {
       data "/path/to/dict/files/dbname1.dict.dz"
       index "/path/to/dict/files/dbname1.index" }
   in '/etc/dictd.conf'
   ,,,

VERSIONING DOCUMENTS

COLLABORATING WITH OTHER AUTHORS

TRANSLATION

  youtranslate
    A small and possibly useless app using google or babel fish

DICTIONARIES

SPELL CHECKING

PUBLISHING

WORK

  # work carried out on this document
  @@ 11 may 2010
     This document was begun, probably because I do a lot of writing
     myself and therefore am interested in tools and techniques to
     make it easier. 
 
  * Word-based diff on reformatted text files
  >> diff -uw <(fmt -1 {file1, file2})
 
  * Converts to PDF all the OpenOffice.org files in the directory
  >> for i in $(ls *.od{tp]); do unoconv -f pdf $i; done